She and her husband, the late Thomas Dunne Sharkey, had eight children and in 1971 moved to Fairfield. After her husband's death in 1979, she returned to the University of Bridgeport to pursue a master's degree and became a certified grief counselor in 1981. For the next 20 years she worked with Theos and the Diocese of Bridgeport. She spent the last 10 years of her life at Essex Meadows in Essex.

In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by a son, Kevin Sharkey.

A Mass of Christian Burial took place April 18 at St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church in Hartford. Burial was in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover, N.J. Arrangements were handled by Robinson Wright & Weymer Funeral Home.